Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Memoirs

FROM SCRATCH

Tembi Locke

A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home

A poignant and transporting cross-cultural love story set against the lush backdrop of the Sicilian countryside, where one woman discovers the healing powers of food, family, and unexpected grace in her darkest hour.

It was love at first sight when Tembi met professional chef, Saro, on a street in Florence. There was just one problem: Saro's traditional Sicilian family did not approve of him marrying a black American woman, an actress no less. However, the couple, heartbroken but undeterred, forges on. They build a happy life in Los Angeles, with fulfilling careers, deep friendships and the love of their lives: a baby girl they adopt at birth. Eventually, they reconcile with Saro's family just as he faces a formidable cancer that will consume all their dreams.

Sicily, a Love Story chronicles three summers Tembi spends in Sicily with her daughter, Zoela, as she begins to piece together a life without her husband in his tiny hometown hamlet of farmers. Where once Tembi was estranged from Saro's family and his origins, now she finds solace and nourishment - literally and spiritually - at her mother in law's table. In the Sicilian countryside, she discovers the healing gifts of simple fresh food, the embrace of a close knit community, and timeless traditions and wisdom that light a path forward. All along the way she reflects on her and Saro's incredible romance - an indelible love story that leaps off the pages.

In Sicily, it is said that every story begins with a marriage or a deathin Tembi Locke's case, it is both. Her story is about loss, but it's really about love found. Her story is about travel, but it's really about finding a home. It is about food, but it's really about chasing flavor as an act of remembrance. Sicily, a Love Story is for anyone who has dared to reach for big love, fought for what mattered most, and needed a powerful reminder that life is.delicious.

Tembi Locke is an accomplished actor who has appeared in over forty television shows and films, including The Magicians, NCIS: LA, Animal Kingdom and Dumb and Dumber To. She is also a TEDx speaker. Her talk, What Forty Steps Taught Me About Love and Grief, traces her journey as a cancer caregiver. She is the creative voice behind The Kitchen Widow, a web series and grief support community that has received mentions in The New York Times and The Guardian. The author of Sicily, a Love Story, she lives in Los Angeles with her young daughter but can be found each summer on the island of Sicily.

Available products
Book Published 2019-04-30 by Simon & Schuster
Book Published 2019-04-30 by Simon & Schuster

Comments

Uutterly incandescent love story. Tembi Locke has written a deeply personal tale brimming with hope and inspiration. There is both great beauty to be found within loss, and also the opportunity for transformation for those who let life truly break them open. In this unforgettable memoir, Tembi shows us how powerful - and ultimately uplifting - that journey can be. You will be forever changed for having turned these pages.

How does your love for your husband grow as a newlywed, a wife, a caregiver, and a young widow? How do you survive a love that was worth waiting for out in the rain? To try, Tembi Locke climbs volcanoes, cooks, and communes with her husband's family in a small town in Italy. Sicily, A Love Story is a heartbreaking, but reassuring memoir of forgiveness. And Locke is a strong, joyful woman; a veteran actor who it turns out is a poet.

Mesmerizing... Readers will not want to put Locke's memoir down, so compellingly does she describe her unique experiences and the universal ups and downs of life

Tembi Locke's story is different from ones you've heard before...Locke's resilience and persistence in the face of such loss is incredibly moving, as is her open-hearted curiosity about a place that was not, initially, especially welcoming to her... Candid, wise and with a flair for vivid metaphors, she is also a beautiful and powerful writer... Tembi Locke's moving, vivid memoir is an epic cross-cultural romance, a tragedy, a tale of self-discovery and, best of all, a testament to the simple healing powers of good food.

TODAY'S RANKING ON AMAZON (before the announcement from Reese Witherspoon): #3 in general Italy Travel Guides #3 in General Travel Reference #6 in Love & Loss

A gorgeous read... The writing in "From Scratch" is sublime. Locke allows her readers to revel in the sensory experiences of Sicily. She offers a peek into her deeply satisfying relationship with her daughter, her husband and their family. When she compares cheese-making to grief, describing how both need "time, labor and attention," she offers a new perspective on an age-old emotion. Even her description of the classic Los Angeles fog feels fresh.

The book is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick for the month.

A marvelous memoir about taking chances, finding love, and building a home away from home. In Sicily, a Love Story, Tembi Locke writes movingly about loss, grief, and the healing miracle of food.

Actress and TEDx speaker Locke movingly describes the process of grieving and finding solace during three summers in Italy after the death of her husband...She concludes with more than a dozen Sicilian recipes that filled her with memories of Saro. Locke's raw and heartfelt memoir will uplift readers suffering from the loss of their own loved ones.

Today's Amazon ranking (Nov. 7, 2019; we published in April 2019): #6 in General New York State Travel Guides #7 in general Italy Travel Guides #26 in General Travel Reference

Zoe Saldana to Star in Netflix Limited Series 'From Scratch' With Reese Witherspoon Producing Zoe Saldana and Reese Witherspoon are teaming to adapt Tembi Locke's memoir "From Scratch" as a limited series for Netflix, Variety has learned exclusively. Saldana will star in and executive produce the series...Tembi Locke's sister Attica Locke will serve as showrunner and executive producer on the series.... It shoots in Sicily and Italy in June-September and will be on the air next year worldwide.

In her literary debut, actor and TEDx speaker Locke offers a warm memoir of romance, wrenching loss, and healing...A captivating story of love lost and found.